Recently, in an interior molded article for automobiles such as steering wheel etc., a soft coating portion has been formed with, in view of sense of touch, an integral skin foam of soft polyurethane RIM (Reaction Injection Molding) urethane material! with which a desirable feel can be obtained and a material comprising, as a base, polyvinyl chloride having a large amount of a plasticizer formulated therein (soft PVC material).
These materials are, however, difficult to recycle, so that a substitute is required to be developed in view of saving resources and environmental problems.
That is, RIM urethane material is heat-curable, so that not only the reuse thereof is difficult, but also both the initial cost and the running cost (material cost) are rather expensive.
Although the soft PVC material is thermoplastic, since it includes a large amount of a plasticizer and, additionally, generates chlorine gas by heating, the reuse thereof is also difficult. It also has a high specific gravity and, therefore, is not suitable as an interior molded article for automobiles.
The present inventors had a great interest in various characteristics of TPU such as its feel and have searched for an interior molded article for automobiles. The TPU, however, has a relatively high hardness, so, by solely using the same, a soft (touch) feeling in gripping the integral skin was difficult to obtained. Thus, in order to obtain the soft feeling, the soft type material (Hs JIS K-6301 A! of 70.degree. or less) could be considered to be used. But a given abrasion resistance could hardly be obtained therefrom, so that it was almost impossible to apply the same to an interior molded article for automobiles.
Accordingly, it can be considered to form a soft coating portion with a thermoplastic elastomer such as a thermoplastic polyolefin elastomer or a thermoplastic polystyrene elastomer, which are desirable in recycling properties. However, although, for example, a steering wheel etc., molded from an olefinic TPE which is a currently used thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) is light and provides a soft feel, it is lacking of an abrasion resistance and also undesirably provides a sticky feeling so that it substantially could not be applied to an interior molded article for automobiles.